The bizarre fusion of multiple Salamis-class ships, Magellan-class ships, over ninety Zaku Tanks and Guntanks each and a Dolos-class Mothership from 'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin' kept itself aloft using a combination of Minovsky Craft Atmospheric Flight Systems and downwards facing thrusters made its way across Kyrellia to eventually float menacingly over a village that shouldn’t have been there. Where once Arkhan’s village’s ruins stood there was a small village that was roughly the size of the one that he had called home, complete with a church, albeit a much larger and more grandiose one. Curious as to who decided to settle on the ruins of his home and intending to thank them for restoring the ruins of his home to such a better state, Arkhan boarded a shuttle and made his way down to the village gate. It was absurd how much effort must have gone into restoring this village to be an almost exact replica of his home and Arkhan fully intended to congratulate the people there for their hard work and effort.
At least he would have had the reception been a little better…
The second his shuttle made its final descent, flanked on its right by Amuro as a Gundam Alex and on its left by Char as a Perfect Zeong, the gates to the village closed shut and those people within the village began to grab anything they could get their hands on and prepared for battle. When the doors of his shuttle opened and Arkhan stepped forth, rather than greet him with open arms only insults and rotten food were sent his way.
“Traitor!”
“Heretic!”
“Anti-Lugus!”
As the insults kept coming Arkhan looked at the large church that not only occupied the ground where the one in his village once stood but exceeded it by several tens of meters. Above the doorway was, in intricate and expensive stained glass, the symbol of the Church of Lugus. There was no way that this little village would have been able to scrounge together the money to not only rebuilt the old church but to expand it to this size and extravagance in such a short time. Arkhan had a sneaking suspicion that the event that had changed his life all those years ago was not mere coincidence after all. As more Mobile Suit Golems made landfall and pushed back the raging crowds, Arkhan and both Amuro and Char made their way to the church to see if Arkhan’s sneaking suspicions were unfounded or were spot on.
…
As the massive metal cloud hung overhead and swarmed with the Metal Demons that buzzed in an out of it like twisted and corrupt bees around a hive, I prepared to make a final stand along with the faithful. I, Luther Luminas had become a Cardinal after assisting in the destruction of my previous post in the village that was razed all those years ago. I had been feeding information about the heretical and blasphemous villagers and their defenses to the Kyrellian Branch of the Church and once I was finally relieved of my duty there the will of God was done and those heathens who merely payed lip service to the Divine Writ were put down like the feral beasts that they were. Had the Prince and his entourage not been slain by that mysterious third-party I surely would have become the one in charge of the Kyrellian Branch of the Church and would have steered this land down the path to true devotion to Lugus. As I waited for the screams of pain and suffering that the Metal Demons would surely force my flock to release, all I ended up hearing were the sounds of insults being hurled at someone.
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Then the large door to the church opened and in stepped a young man who looked merely 13 or so years of age, followed by two of the Metal Demons. The boy looked at me as though he were trying to remember something, and then his countenance abruptly changed to one of absolute rage. Did I know this Heretic? Surely, I did not, as there was no way that I, a servant of the Almighty would ever associate with a Heathe….
No, it couldn’t be.
“It has been a long, long time. Hasn’t it, Father Luther Luminas? When was the last time we saw each other, hmm? If I am not mistaken, the last time we saw one another was merely four days before I went into the woods for my sixth birthday. Yes, the day you left to ‘go spread the faith in another place needing guidance’. Do you remember me, old man?”
My blood froze and sweat poured down my face. It was impossible. How could one six-year-old boy have survived in that forest and lasted this long without assistance?!
“A-a-ah, Arkhan, my child… Of course I did not forget about you. Have you (gulp) come to see an old friend?”
“You could say that.” Arkhan said with barely concealed fury as he walked menacingly towards the trembling Cardinal.
“You know, ever since I slaughtered those bastards who razed my home to the ground,” Arkhan continued, “I was always confused as to why you left mere days before that event happened. For the longest time I thought it was mere coincidence, but now, seeing you here and with better amenities than you had before…”
Luther backed up a bit as Arkhan moved in closer to him.
“Hey, do you want to see something cool?” Arkhan asked with a face that was one of absolute malice and yet also looked like the innocent face of a child.
“I-I-I don’t…”
“TOO LATE!”
Arkhan snapped his fingers and from two glowing circles that appeared on the ground two Metal Demons rose from the shining circles and eventually took the stance of self-confident soldiers.
“Y-you… You a-are…” Luther stammered.
“Yes, old man. I am. It’s kind of hilarious isn’t it? You sold out my home and its people to gain power and authority, but in the process set me down a path that would not only make me the undisputed ruler of a massive nation but also a part of the force that is systematically destroying your precious faith piece by piece.”
Arkhan walked away and sat in one of the pews, sighing like an old man before asking a seemingly innocuous question to the terrified Cardinal
“Have you ever heard of the saying; Do unto others only as you would have done to yourself?”
Arkhan snapped his fingers again and as if they had been imbued with all the rage and fury that he possessed, Arkhan’s Metal Demons began to beat the 55-year-old Cardinal like he was a rag-doll in the hands of a group of angry children. While the beating was painful, it was merely half-assed and meant to show the Cardinal a taste of what he was to expect going forward.
“Just as you broke me all those years ago, I am going to break you. No, WE are going to break you. I am going to let you live long enough to see the Theocracy crumble to dust and your beloved Lugus become nothing more than a being to be hated and despised by the vast majority of humans. You started this, so you have an obligation to see the end of it. By the time you see the capitol of your beloved Theocracy in flames and your faith being abandoned en masse, you may already be nothing more than a broken husk. If that is the case, I will grant you the mercy of a quick and painless death, the kind that Prince Asshat and his entourage likely denied my fellow villagers.”
As the pain form the beating slowly knocked Luther unconscious, he heard a chilling remark from the Anti-Lugus.
“This pain you are feeling now is only the beginning. I will repay the misery you brought to me a thousand fold and once your Theocracy is ashes only then will I permit you to die.”